Blakroc really should have been awful. Just think about it: a collaboration between the Black Keys (whose output is almost uniformly terrible) and various hip hop artists (some great, some iffy), A&Rd by Damon Dash (patently insane). It sounds like a parallel Anvil; a Spinal Tap for a United States that wants to reassure itself that it is ‘post-racial’.
Amazingly enough, though, the record was actually pretty enjoyable, with standout spots from Raekwon, RZA and Mos Def.
Last night the Black Keys announced the followup – the almost impossibly inventively titled Blakroc 2. Judging from the trailer you can expect this iteration to feature Jay Electronica, Talib Kweli, Currensy, Wiz Khalifa, the Cool Kids, and whoever else Dash happened to run into on his way to or from the studio.
Cue an absurd amount of self-conscious joint smoking.
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